Category: <span>Events</span>

Rwanda will compete at the 2nd Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China

Over 3,600 young athletes aged 15 to 18 from over 200 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will be in Nanjing, China, from August 16-28, 2014 to compete in the second edition of the Summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG).

This year’s event will feature 28 sports, including golf and rugby sevens, which will make their debut before their inclusion at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Also on the sports programme will be disciplines such as 3-on-3 basketball and 5-a-side hockey, as well as mixed gender and mixed NOC events.

Some new sports and disciplines not currently on the Olympic programme will also be showcased following an IOC Executive Board decision in December 2013. Sport climbing, roller sports and skateboarding will join wushu, which was already planned to feature in Nanjing.

The young participants will have the opportunity to take part in a unique Culture and Education Programme (CEP) off the anxiety of play that will focus on themes ranging from Olympism and the Olympic values to skills development and how to lead healthy lifestyles.

2014-03-YOUTH_OLYMPIC_GAMES_PRESS_RELEASE

Rwanda expects to send a record 25 athletes to compete at the upcoming Summer Olympics that will be held in the Brazilian capital, Rio de Janeiro from August 5-21, 2016.

The Rwanda National Olympic and Sport Committe (RNOSC) has identified 13 sports disciplines to commence preparations and they include archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, augmentin, football, golf, judo, lawn tennis, shooting, swimming, taekwondo and volleyball.

The National Paralympic Committee will also send athletes to Rio de Janeiro as well.

In total, over 150 athletes will be involved in the qualification process as the focus will narrow down to the goal of 25 athletes with a chance to win medals for Rwanda.

The responsible federations have already laid out strategic planning to participate in several global and continental competitions over the course of time in preparation for the prestigious Olympics.

RNOSC Secretary General Ahmed Habineza said, “Champions are not made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them, a desire, a dream, a vision.”

In line with our program ‘Reach the Podium’, this is an opportunity for the athletes to compete at the highest level and with all the support they need, this is an achievable objective.

The highest number of athletes Rwanda has ever sent to the Olympics is 10 (Barcelona 1992) and at the recent London 2012 Games, Rwanda sent seven athletes.

The Rwanda National Olympic and Sport Committee (RNOSC) is currently exploring the possibility of competing at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games that will be held in Pyeongchang in the Republic of Korea from February 9-25.

This follows a recent visit of a six-man delegation from Rwanda that trained at the Alpensia resort in Pyeongchang from January 12-27, with focus on downhill skiing as a test event at the ‘Dream Program’, an annual winter sports training camp for international youths including those in snowless regions.

Led by Martin Koonce, the Executive Director of the RNOSC, Rwanda was represented by three Paralympians namely; IPC World Championships gold medalist Hermas Cliff Muvunyi, Emile Cadet Vuningabo and Dinnah Kabazayire as well as two taekwondo players including Daphine Uwababyeyi and Vincent Munyakazi.

“It is a real possibility that Rwandans can participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics and be competitive if we begin preparing now and if we believe,” mentioned Koonce who was also coach in Pyeongchang.

The focus will be to compete in downhill skiing, short track speed skating, crosscountry skiing and biathlon, which is a combination of shooting and crosscountry skiing.

Muvunyi expressed delight and said, “It was a good experience and there is hope that we can perform well and with the same enthusiasm, the 15 year old Uwababyeyi, a junior taekwondo player said, “This is the best time of my life. My world has changed.”

Over 150 youths from 37 countries from across the world took part in this 10-year program including Brunei, Philippines, Ukraine, India, Thailand, Guatemala, Ecuador, Mexico as well as other African countries like Togo, Gabon, Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda.

Rwanda will be represented by 21 athletes at the Commonwealth Games scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from July 23-August 3, 2014.

Five sports disciplines have been selected and that herpes virus athletics, boxing, cycling, swimming and paralympics. Below are the specifications of Rwanda’s participation;

Sport discipline	Event	Female	Male
Athletics	Marathon	1	2
	10000m	1	3
	5000m		2
	800m		1
Boxing	Light middleweight (64kg)		1
	Middleweight (75kg)		1
Cycling	Individual time trial		3
	Team time trial		5
	Mountain bike		2
Swimming	50m freestyle	1
Paralympics	Powerlifting (75kg+)		1

*Please note that there are seven cyclists, five will compete in the team time trial, three of whom will compete in the individual time trial and then two in the mountain bike category.

The chef de mission to Glasgow, Serge Mwambali said, “We are going to do our best. Athletes are very committed and very soon we shall start training camps.”

This is the second time that Rwanda will participate in the quadrennial Games that will attract over 10, 000 athletes from 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.

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